What is a Secure Socket Layer (SSL)?

Even if you can’t explain what it is, most people are familiar with Secure Socket Layer (SSL). On the surface, SSL is the little lock you see on the url line, or the “s” that appears sometimes in the https://. Behind the scenes, SSL is an encrypted link between a server (Bambora) and a client (a merchant).

Online, data normally flows as plain text, meaning anyone who can intercept the information can read it. Under the PCI-Compliance standards anyone who is processing payments on their website needs a SSL. This ensures that the data (credit card number, expiry date, address) that is being sent to the server is fully encrypted and protected from malicious intent.

SSL is a security protocol that controls the way the link and the data are passed between the server and client. You can find SSL across the internet, not just on payment websites. Any site that wants to keep their information secure will most likely have a SSL.

What can you do?

If you are processing payments online you must have a SSL. Not only does this keep your customer’s information safe while it transmits, but it also reassures them that their payment is secure.

Any Bambora product, Checkout to Virtual Terminal, uses a SSL to keep payment data safe. We even go one step further and tokenize the data, so even if someone did break through the SSL the data is encrypted rendering it unreadable.

If you are looking at payment tools outside Bambora ensure that they use a SSL to transmit information. Be very wary of any providers that are not following this basic layer of protection.